From Kittens to Cats
by Yuka Muntou
Summary: AU. Before Artemis Crock was a married anti-heroine she was an angry hero. She was a anesthetized assassin beforehand. She was Catwoman's nimble sidekick too. She was the only ward of Kyle and the rival of Wayne's ward Grayson as well. She was a proud pickpocket ahead of time. But most importantly, Artemis was just a naive little girl.


**Author's Note: I just don't like Spitfire, truth be told I cried when they got together and laughed manically when Wally died. But that doesn't have anything to do with what I want to say.**

**I had a dream and in that dream Artemis was a awkward little orphan who caught Catwoman's eye. That's about it because this whole first chapter was like many other days mashed into one. With the way I'm going, it's somewhat AU but not totally AU, so it's more that AU-ish I suppose.**

**Summary: AU. Before Artemis Crock was a**** married anti-heroine she was an angry hero. She was a anesthetized assassin beforehand. She was Catwoman's nimble sidekick too. She was the only ward of Kyle and the rival of Wayne's ward Grayson as well. She was a proud pickpocket ahead of time. But most importantly, Artemis was just a naive little girl.**

**Disclaimer: Artemis Crock, Selina Kyle (Catwoman), and all other characters made from DC Comics are not mine; no profit other than free entertainment was made.**

**Words: 4,325 (7.5 pages)**

* * *

I was fast, I was sneaky, I was strong, I was cunning, and most of all I was good.

When I was little, before my dad took me off to the Shadows, I was often left alone in the apartment. My sister, Jade, had ran away and my mom was locked in jail. My dad rarely came home so there was no food or money around for my young self to survive on, just me and my teddy bear that my dad would soon throw away months after Jade's leaving and claim that I was too old for such a thing. Using the skills my seven year old self mastered, I pitch-pocketed nearly every day until one day I met _her_.

It was a dreary Monday afternoon, the sun was setting but the citizens of Gotham were bustling about. In my oversized overalls, I walked up and down the streets and through alleys slipping my hands through other people's pockets for their wallets. It was a bad day for pitch-pockets for I only stole about four thin wallets with a few dollar bills.

In the slums of Gotham, I knew this was the best I was going to get so I decided then to move up to the shopping center, that's when I spotted her. She was in a suit; the fancy kind rich person wore, and was walking through the slums and towards me as if we were in the safest part of Gotham. With only a few feet left, I had gotten my fingers ready. I swiped at her as she passed and ran for home as fast as my stubby legs could carry me.

To my amazement, in my hands were emeralds, I had stolen from another thief! I was nervous what the lady would do, but I was excited to tell my dad about it for I knew he would be dropping by to get a change of clothes that night. I did the best my naïve mind thought was the best: prepare leftover lasagna, fold his clothes right next to the plate, and sit on the couch with the emeralds in my pocket waiting for him. And that's what I did until late into the night when I woke up with a startle.

The food was eaten, the clothes were gone, in their place was a new stuffed doll smiling as happy can be. Scrambling, I grabbed at it and examined it closely. The material was soft, button eyes without a scratch that gleamed in the light, yarn hair held by a satin bow, and a blue dress with a pure white apron. I didn't have to look it up to know it was the Alice doll I pestered my dad for when I was six since the teddy bear I had wasn't enough to satisfy myself, but that one was at a garage sale for five dollars and was raggedy, this doll was stolen brand new.

I shoved my hands inside my pocket and immediately my eyes widened; I looked inside my pocket as my hands frantically searched around. It was gone! I felt warm tears gather around my eyes but not a tear fell, I promised myself that I would never cry after Jade left. With the doll in my arms I headed off to my room and looked out the window to talk to the moon about my day. I talked to the moon soon after everyone left me behind, between the moon and I was no expectations and a comfortable one-sided chat that could sometimes last hours.

"Today wasn't a very good day you know."

The sound of police cars raced by but the moon was silent as I went on.

"I was only able to take four wallets! But there was this really pretty lady walking down the street like she owned the place too, I thought she was loaded so I pocketed her too. Guess what I got from her? Emeralds! Can you believe it? She had the "Cat's Eyes" that were on the newspaper I found running home. I was going to show dad them when he came by but I fell asleep waiting. When I woke up, I found this doll," I lifted it up the Alice doll to show the moon, "all nice and new, dad probably stole it. So I was going to look at the emeralds to feel better but when I looked through my pocket, it was gone! Do you think dad took it or maybe the lady came back since she's a thief too?

I yawned and stretched my thin arms; that was enough chat with the moon tonight I thought. As I began to reach my window to pull it down, I spotted two figures a few rooftops away fighting, the sound of a whip cracking was sharp but the familiar grunts of determination that came from none other than Batman were stronger. Something glinted in both of their hands; my eyes squinted to see what it was and with much surprise, it was the emeralds I had lost. How they ended up snug in their tight grips was beyond me but what I knew for sure was that I was mad.

I walked away from the window and entered my parents' room where I knew I would find my training bow. Before my mom went off to jail, she trained me unlike my father who trained Jade. My mom did not like it when dad trained me so when I told her that dad taught me how to pocket someone, she and dad got into a fight that day. My mom taught me that sharp arrows were not to be used unless it was a death situation so instead of the pointed arrows dad gave me; she gave me trick arrows like the ones Green Arrow from Star City had and often used. I loaded the bow with a net arrow; one shot was all I was going to do.

I did not rush back to my room; I knew they were still going to be there. Of course, as I neared my window to ready my shot, they were still there dancing with their fists and flying kicks-the occasional whip cracking and batarang were their music. Resting the hilt of my bow against the windowsill, I pulled the string back, I closed one my eyes to focus better, my target was in between both of them, that way if I couldn't get both of them caught, I would at least get one stuck.

I breathed in deeply and released, my arrow flew at them. It seemed that the person that was fighting with Batman had known about my shot for they gave a kick to his side, pushing him into the arrow's direction so that the arrow would directly hit him in the back. Just as the arrow hit and the net had opened, the thief swiped at Batman officially taking both emeralds and ran to the edge of the building looking straight towards my direction. Raising one of their hands to their lips and blew as if it were a thanks they jumped down and blended into the shadows.

I looked at Batman's direction, my bow long hidden under my bed and my window locked shut. He was still cutting himself out although it only took a minute before he stood up free and grappled away into the night. I immediately went to my parents' room to put away my bow for I wasn't allowed to have it without supervision. I went to bed that night shivering under my thin covers, the Alice doll staring down at me in a corner as if it knew something I didn't.

When I woke up that next morning the Alice doll was gone, in its place was a floppy stuffed black cat. Like the Alice doll, it was new with its shiny black fur, green button eyes, and pink velvet nose. But unlike the Alice doll, it wasn't from my rarely ever home dad nor was it just filled with just plastic fluff, no; it also held a "Cat's Eye" emerald and came from someone I knew I was going to see again soon.

Catwoman.

* * *

It had been a week since my encounter with the Bat and Cat, more so the Cat whom I pocketed and was pocketed back by. I never found the Alice doll but it didn't matter, I still had the floppy cat to sleep with.

Winter has fully kicked itself in Gotham, snowing nearly every night. In my overalls, I knew my outfit wasn't going to be enough but it had to work, my winter clothes were too small to put on by now. As I stuffed my feet into the shrinking sneakers my mom bought a year ago, I made sure to grab my cat and lock the door, the key hanging around my neck.

I chattered and hugged my cat closer to my body in an attempt to warm myself. Today I had to visit Commissioner Gordon, he scheduled this day so that I could visit my mom, something I couldn't do without an adult. I made haste and nearly ran to his station, I loved my mom and I missed her, I couldn't just wait you know.

A police officer was waiting for me; I was sure of it since he gave me a look over and jerked his head toward the station's double doors. I ran after him and shook the snow that had piled on my head off. He led me to the Commissioner's office where Mr. Gordon himself was waiting but not alone for holding one of his hand was a girl near my age. I nearly rolled my eyes, it was a trick; he wanted to get to the good side of my mom and me to show that he too has a daughter near my age in hopes that it would get my mom to talk more.

He saluted the officer before smiling down at me. "Hello," he said, his voice lined with faux kindness, "Aren't you excited to see your mom, Ms. Crock?"

Ms. Crock. That was my name for Commissioner Gordon; not Artemis but Ms. Crock. To him, when I was Ms. Crock, Jade was Ms. Nguyen, dad was Mr. Crock, and mom Mrs. Nguyen. He didn't want to call us by our names, he didn't like us enough.

I grinned, my teeth showing, "I sure am, sir!" My grip on my cat tightened, what was I going to say next?

"Before we go, let me introduce my daughter, Barbra. She wanted to get out since she was sick all week," he brought her forward, despite our ages we scanned each other like women did.

She was younger than me and much shorter too. She had messy read hair tied up in short pigtails and a pair of smart eyes. Her clothes fitted her, but it would fit better if she smiled rather than scowled. She was going to be pretty when she grew up and with those eyes, maybe a hero as well.

Commissioner Gordon and his daughter led me to the visitor's room where I could be "alone" with my mom. We weren't really going to be alone; there was a guard inside the room and two outside by each side of the door. Gordon and his daughter were probably going to stand right in front of the door as well.

I held in my breath as I sat waiting, slowly my mom came into the room and I instantly frowned at the wheelchair she was sitting on. The reason why mom was caught and sent to jail was because her legs were crushed into paralysis and couldn't run, the reason why they were crushed was because of dad, and the reason why it was because of dad is because mom pushed him out of the way when a job went wrong. He didn't even come back to her, he just whistled and played the "I married a criminal?" card and got off free with only some suspicion. But none less, mom told me to love him all the same.

"Mom!" I cried running towards her, the door had already been shut by then. All guards were ready as if my mom was going to suddenly pop out of her wheelchair and beat them up.

"Artemis, I missed you," she said in Vietnamese while alternating every other word in French, "we should talk like this today, add some Romanian every now and then. Although they do not have a translator, we never know if this meeting is being recorded on tape."

I nodded my head, before my mom went to jail, she had taught me Vietnamese and French, we were studying Romanian but when she was arrested; I no longer had a partner. I had self-studied since but I could not speak it fluently as I could with the other two.

We spoke to and fro with ease, well until I used Romanian and screwed up my sentences making my mom crack a smile at my stumbles. I mostly had done the talking I noticed, all mom did mostly was look at me and the stuffed toy I dragged around.

I had run out of things to say when my mom spoke up. "Where did you get that toy?" she asked her hand out expecting for me to hand it to her which I did.

"I dunno," I lied rubbing my left arm, "I woke up one day and it was where the Alice doll was."

I mentally kicked myself as mom's eyes narrowed as if something displeased her.

"Alice doll?" she hissed as I nodded my head furiously.

"It was brand new and everything," I said before adding, "Probably stolen though."

"We're done talking!" mom suddenly yelled in English. The door slammed open with the guards and Commissioner Gordon with his daughter ready to lead me out.

"I love you, Artemis." She hugged me tightly with a large smile and handed me back my toy.

I laid in bed that night hugging my cat tight, I did not shiver, I cried.

My mom was shot as soon as I stepped out of the room.

* * *

Dad no longer came by; he took everything but my poster out and sold the apartment to drug dealers. I was kicked out and sent to the Gotham orphanage with nothing but the clothes on my back, my cat, and the poster that I had to break back into the apartment to get. By sending me to the orphanage, I knew by then my dad did not want me.

I was often in trouble at the orphanage. I had beat up kids and bit the helpers, I had also stolen from them too on occasion. I would go ballistic when they tried to take my poster and cat away as punishment and tried to crack the skulls of anyone around me.

Rarely was I awake when Catwoman came. Only a few times would she have snuck through the window of my small room, sit on the bed with me, and wordlessly stuff the cat she had gotten me with things. Sometimes a diamond she put in the toy would disappear and become a string of pearls. She came and went- taking and placing, but only the Cat's Eye emerald did she leave alone.

Unlike the policies that said orphans sixteen and up were to be kicked out or moved out of the city to a different orphanage fit for their age, I was kicked out when I was ten for extreme behavior in violence.

I slept in alleyways but woke up next to some lady named Maven nearly every morning. I left as soon as I woke up, taking the cat but in time leaving the poster behind. Within the first month since I was abandoned, I had found a new home it seemed, even if I did leave as soon as I could. A few weeks passed when I finally spoke to Maven asking if this was her home, she laughed. She told me that she didn't live here and that Selina Kyle, her boss, did; Maven was just a friend and secretary. She also told me that Selina always came late and left early but if I stayed long enough I could meet her, I didn't bother to do so.

When it became winter again I finally met Selina Kyle. I was still ten at the time, I still held onto the cat, I still was taken to Kyle's condo and left as soon as I woke up. I was sick with what was probably the flu but that did not interfere with my pocket routines in the slums. I had swiped three fat wallets of illegal drug money; to me it was a good day disregarding my sickness. Even though it was nearly ten, I could still go and buy some medicine in hopes to tame my fever.

I headed up to the pharmacy near Gotham North, a high school filled with troublemakers. The pharmacy was always cheap and never questioned a customer. My nose was red and stuffy by the time I walked into the store. Walking down the aisles of the store, I noticed how shady the place was; something underground probably happens here.

With a box of tissues and a bottle of Children's Nyquil, I wandered around the store eyeing things with little interest, which was until I spotted something that was definitely not gotten through honesty. In a glass box on a poorly made pedestal was a jade statue of a cat arched and ready to pounce. Its eyes were black jewels and the body was detailed by swirls of gold. The statue would be stolen if not watched properly.

I did not know the exact amount of time I had stayed in the pharmacy, but I know I stayed long enough to leave on its closing time, midnight. It was too cold to be walking around so I rested against the outside of the store instead. An hour passed when it started to snow rendering the medication I took useless, what I thought I had was probably going to get worse. I did not sleep; I kept my eyes open waiting for someone to rob a store or the pharmacy, and since we were in the slums of Gotham it wouldn't be surprising. A couple of inches of snow later someone did and I passed out.

* * *

When came to, it was still dark out, I was in the same room I was always in when I awoke. The door, I noticed, was cracked ajar and I strained to hear the furious whispering.

"Selina, change out of the costume, _"Catwoman is not to be found out,"_ remember?" the obvious voice of Maven was anxious.

"What's her condition?" was all Maven got as a reply.

"She's…sick, it's just influenza but nothing serious like hypothermia or pneumonia where she could die."

As I leaned closer, I pressed against something soft, warm, and very much alive. Looking down, all I saw was a cat, a black one like my toy. I stared at it for a while, completely forgetting about the whispering until the door started to open wider and I hid under the covers accidentally pushing the cat off with a yowl emitting as it hit the ground with a soft thud.

"You're supposed to be sleeping," a female voice said coolly. The voice was not nasally or as soft as Maven's, it was beautifully smooth yet sly and cunning-the voice must have been Selina Kyle's.

"You're supposed to be a regular animal rights activist-socialite." I shot back remembering what Maven said Selina's occupation was before sneezing under the warm covers.

"You forgot charity fundraiser, but touché," she said pulling the covers down so that Maven could hand me a tissue which I happily took.

"You're Catwoman," I said as if it were the most normal thing to say.

"And you're sick," she said not denying my claim.

I watched as she straightened up and headed towards the door. "Maven," she said, "you may leave now; take the day off tomorrow as well." Selina looked at me, thought skimming in her green eyes, "You stay there, and I'll be back in five minutes." With that she left the room leaving Maven and I.

Maven stretched her arms with a yawn, "Well, I guess I'm going to go now. Since you're sick, you should explore this room instead of sneaking out like always." She patted my head with a grin, "I'll see you Monday!" and walked out the door.

Taking up Maven's idea, I jumped off the bed wobbling a bit due to dizziness. The room was fairly large, a cherry wood desk against the corner diagonal from the bed with small birds patterned on the bottom of the comforter, across the bed was a comfortable looking one-person couch that was diagonally across two small bookshelves filled with nothing but three books, a single window next to the bed with white curtains that were drawn close.

As I walked around the room I stopped and spotted the _Alice in Wonderland_ poster I had left behind long ago, it was held up by a large golden frame. I didn't understand why, but I held in my breath.

"Are you hungry?" the smooth voice from Selina broke my daze and I exhaled. Before I could decline the offer my stomach emitted a growl that made my cheeks flame and Selina cracked a smile, "I'll take that as a yes."

* * *

I watched as Selina rummaged through the fridge and cabinets muttering to herself. Even though her back was turned, the earlier glimpses of her faced showed that her voice matched herself physically. Selina was tall and lean; any trace of muscle was barely hinted on her peach colored skin. Her hair reached mid-back, silky black with a slight curl-like wave that complimented her dark sea green eyes which sparkled with the sharpness any super villain or hero needed. She even looked harmless, a perfect femme fatale. As she set a bowl of steaming soup in front of me, I couldn't' help but ask why did she do all of this for some stranger.

Selina sat on the chair in front of me, crossing her fingers before placing them under her chin, "Remember how we first met?

I answered by taking a spoonful of burning chicken broth and letting it fall down my throat warming my insides.

"It was right after I robbed the Gotham Museum for the showcasing "Cat's Eyes". Normally, I would've done the job at night, but the circumstances were not in my favor. While I was walking down the streets of the slums of Gotham, I saw a scrawny blonde girl stuffing wallets in her pocket-reminded me of when I first started out. When I came back for them, well, Handsome was already trailing after me through the rooftops, a large distance had separated us luckily."

I snorted when I heard Selina's nickname for Batman but began choking due to the soup I had in my mouth that went down the wrong pipe, Selina gave me a pointed look as I quieted down.

"When I snuck through the window of your dingy apartment, I spotted you sleeping like the dead on the couch, not to mention an out of place doll that gave me a bad feeling on the table. The emeralds weren't all that hard to find when I searched you; lumpy front pockets cannot get any more obvious, you know? After I had the Cat's Eyes in my hands, you were waking up so I ran and when I came out Batman was there on the rooftop over. We fought naturally; somehow he had gotten one of the emeralds in his grasp, that is, until you did your weird little chat with the moon and shot a trick arrow at us-that's how I got the chance to swipe away the other emerald he had and escape. A few hours later I came back, like I said, that doll gave me a bad feeling. When I climbed inside your bedroom window I immediately heard ticking, the kinds that cheap but life-threatening one make, and guess where it came from?"

"The Alice doll," I whispered eyes downcast and focusing on the nearly empty bowl of soup.

"It was easy to switch it out you know, just had to take it and put the cat toy in its place. But, when I left and looked at the bomb, I had no idea how to dismantle it-lot more complicated than what I thought it was. I found Batman minutes after; he was tying up some low-level thugs when I threw the doll and the other half of the Cat's Eyes at him, which he caught easily. I only had to tell him that I couldn't dismantle it before he did it himself. I left while he was working on it, but knowing him, he probably had it done and thrown away," she placed her hands on the table and crossed her legs with a sigh.

"Time passed and I see the same little girl passed out on the street, mother dead, father abandoned, kicked out of an orphanage despite being underage, not to mention sick as well. It was kind of sad to see. But Maven and I had our eyes on you so like I normally did, I took you home and here you are now."

"Why did you do it?" I asked looking at her, the now empty bowl forgotten and pushed aside.

I watched as Selina drummed her fingers on the table and hummed a curious tune before giving me a smile.

"Who knows?" With that she left the room her own, leaving me to ponder.

* * *

**Review please?**


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